Widening an existing road to add a lane for transit (bus or rail) is a Schedule C activity under the Municipal Class EA (i.e. the same as for a new transitway).

However, "localised operational improvements at specific locations", including "stopping lanes, access lanes, turning lanes, signal priority, queue jump lanes", amongst others, is a pre-approved Schedule A+ activity ('A+' signifying you have to tell everyone about it), so long as it is has no or minimal adverse environmental effects, at which point it would be a Schedule B activity.

So they can probably do what they need to do at Laurentian on the north side of Baseline from the Scouts Shop to beyond Clyde by way of the above. However, it looks like the bus lane extends east of the Scouts, possibly to the former IBM buildings at Merivale opposite Loblaws. They can use the same excuse as above to get from Merivale to Loblaws where there's a long right turn lane into the former IBM/current FedGov buildings - leaving them only the segment in front of the Scouts' buildings to have to come up with an 'A+' rationale for. Since it looks like they're going to consolidate the entrance to the Scouts and the Walmart into one (and remove the signalized pedestrian crossing in front of the former high school), they may just have enough of a rationale to get away with it.

One thing that gets me is what happens to the bus stops... since it looks like there will be separate right-turn lanes for much of the length of the project.

And of course the trees will most likely get the chop, be it directly or indirectly from having their roots cut up.

Btw, the City's list of required infrastructure projects in furtherance of the TMP includes the addition of bus lanes on Baseline from Richmond Road all the way to Heron and beyond to Walkley Rd:

Recall that they added a short length of Bus-only lane along the north side of Baseline where the bus turns west from the new intersection at Constellation.

They have also converted the outside WB lane between the two ends of Centrepointe to bus-only. And they have removed the gravel fill and precast curbs that eliminated the curb-side lane immediately west of Woodroffe.

My guess is that they're planning to start the bus-only lane just east of Woodroffe as an interim measure.

/bitching on

But they certainly don't seem to know what they're doing. They widened the medians when they created the intersection at Constellation, forcing the two through lanes to jog all over the place. It was a nightmare in winter when people unfamiliar with the hidden lane markings are inadvertently wandering back and forth between lanes.

Further evidence of incompetence would be the fact they erased and repainted the new lane markings in a different configuration about a month after they opened the Constellation intersection.

That whole project seems really dismal. The sewers grates on Constellation are too high, so they removed the asphalt around them in preparation for fixing them, and then used pylons to create 5 foot wide barriers at each cover. They kept the on-street parking though (perhaps the project team works out of city building nearby) so for over a month the road was a jumbled nightmare that was really only one lane wide, but lacked any signs. Just this week they banned all stopping along the east side of Constellation so you can drive northbound without occupying the only southbound lane.

At the risk of drawing this thread away from Laurentian; the temporary curbs west of Woodroffe are being removed now and permanent changes are being made to install the 'SMART CHANNEL' (or high angle channelized right turn lane) between south-bound Woodroffe and west-bound Baseline. [I'm in favour of starting a new thread on the ridiculousness of these so-called 'SMART CHANNELS', if anyone else is interested.]

I don't think there is any need to have a bus lane between Woodroffe and Constellation since there are no buses running along Baseline between Navaho and Constellation.

As for Constellation, it had only been sealed last fall, and needed another layer of asphalt, which is being added now. Soon all will be beautiful on Constellation. The rest of the design, as you point out, indicates unfathomable thinking on the part of City Staff.

At the risk of drawing this thread away from Laurentian; the temporary curbs west of Woodroffe are being removed now and permanent changes are being made to install the 'SMART CHANNEL' (or high angle channelized right turn lane) between south-bound Woodroffe and west-bound Baseline. [I'm in favour of starting a new thread on the ridiculousness of these so-called 'SMART CHANNELS', if anyone else is interested.]

I don't think there is any need to have a bus lane between Woodroffe and Constellation since there are no buses running along Baseline between Navaho and Constellation.

As for Constellation, it had only been sealed last fall, and needed another layer of asphalt, which is being added now. Soon all will be beautiful on Constellation. The rest of the design, as you point out, indicates unfathomable thinking on the part of City Staff.

I think you're right, and I don't like the change at all. Defining the street by fronting the buildings onto it and creating a uniform setback should be essential to this type of redevelopment, and they shouldn't be allowed to deviate from that plan.

After viewing the elevations it looks like the main entrance to the office building is from Clyde Ave which the zoning by-law requires.

Yes we all know people of Ottawa don't like change but if a deviation from the original concept plan still meets the intent of the site specific zoning then why not? I think the original site plan application was just for the three entrances, Wal-Mart and the two buildings in front.

Looks like Loblaws is renovating their store across the street to try and give Wal-Mart a run for their money.

At Laurentian Place, baby steps towards pedestrian-friendliness
BY DAVID REEVELY, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN APRIL 16, 2012

OTTAWA — Part of the former Laurentian High School on the northeast corner of Baseline Road and Clyde Avenue is still a construction zone with trailers and piles of gravel. Part of it is a Walmart that’s open for business. And part of it is an experiment: two buildings with 10 stores between them that are supposed to work both as strip-mall plazas with plenty of parking, and as storefronts attracting pedestrian traffic on a busy road.

Laurentian Place, as it’s now called, is a model for what the city calls an “arterial main street.” Is it a success? Sort of.

At Laurentian Place, baby steps towards pedestrian-friendliness
BY DAVID REEVELY, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN APRIL 16, 2012

OTTAWA — Part of the former Laurentian High School on the northeast corner of Baseline Road and Clyde Avenue is still a construction zone with trailers and piles of gravel. Part of it is a Walmart that’s open for business. And part of it is an experiment: two buildings with 10 stores between them that are supposed to work both as strip-mall plazas with plenty of parking, and as storefronts attracting pedestrian traffic on a busy road.

Laurentian Place, as it’s now called, is a model for what the city calls an “arterial main street.” Is it a success? Sort of.

The Office development at Baseline and Clyde has finally started to begin. This is to the immediate west of the new walmart supercentre. I drive by this area quite often and today they were putting in the base for the crane and the pit is probably 10-15m below ground. It will have a covered parkade and I believe the sign out front of the development lists the building at 6 floors, although the pictures make it seem like 5. 19000sq/ft Class A office space, LEED certified is their goal. I'm not sure if this has ever been discussed, so in case it hasn't here are some pictures I found for the development.

This picture would be great supporting evidence for the counterargument "you're not short of land, just short of creativity".

If they had done what the Canadian Tire on Carling did, then the Walmart would extend out over the frontage buildings along Baseline and above the surface parking lot. Where the Walmart now is would then still be available for other development.

And what Canadian Tire did is not even all that creative anyway but it's still vastly more so than this.